Blogdorf Goodman is a mishmash of beauty product reviews, musings on fashion and swooning over fragrances.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

40 Days and 40 Nights of Fragrance Notes: Olfactory Oddities

The idea for this post came to me yesterday. I thought it would be fun to focus on "offbeat" or slightly twisted fragrance notes. There are several perfume houses who are notorious for pushing the envelope in perfumery. They craft fragrances that are compelling and sometimes unwearable. The best perfume craftsman is Christopher Brosius. He is the gentleman behind the great Demeters and his own CB I Hate Perfume line. He has managed to capture the smell of a thunderstorm, snow and forest floors. Comme des Garçons have created some fragrances that go against the norm. Inspirations range from leaves, sherbet and Japanese ink.

Etat Libre D'Orange is a niche house that has created fragrances that smell like blood or pumpkin pie. The names can be naughty, shocking or witty. I wear "Putain des Palaces" aka Hotel Slut. The inspirations range from anarchy to 1970's gigolos. You have to marvel at the creative mixes of notes. Who knew that jasmine could smell lovely with cigarettes? Etienne de Swardt did.

A great description of Secretions comes from Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez's Perfumes The Guide. Mr Turin writes "It is, however, an elegant fresh floral in the manner of Parfums de Nicolai Odalisque, given a demonic twist by a stupendous bilge note, which, my vibrational nose tells me, can only be a nitrile. I remember years ago mounting an impassioned defense of a forgotten Quest material called Marenil,which smelled just like that: oily, metallic, entirely wrong, and begging to be used intelligently. I'm delighted to see it was possible."
(For the fragonerds...quote from page 318)

Black Hemlock is a poison. The hemlock flower looks eerily similar to Queen Anne's Lace. The flowers are white, frothy and lace-like. The Hemlock stem is smooth with purple spots on the lower half. It is said to have a musty, mice-like smell. Queen Anne's Lace smells like carrots and has a dark purple flower in the center of the flower mass.
Ormonde Jayne's Ormonde Woman is one of my all time favorite fragrances. There is just something about Ormonde. It is glamorous. Haunting. Twisted. One of the listed notes is Black Hemlock. I never get a musty note. It is just a heavenly mix of woods and pine needles.

Ink smells thick, cool and metallic.
Comme des Garçons 2 was created to capture the idea of black ink. The fragrance is a rose incense with this shadowy layer of sumi ink. I could not stop smelling it at Barneys in NYC. I passed on a purchase due to being distracted by Frederic Malles. Carnal Flower always makes me lose my focus and train of thought.
I have not had the pleasure of sniffing Byredo's M/M Ink. This is said to be a stunner. The ink note plays the main character in the fragrance. Lalique's Encre Noire is supposed to smell like India ink. It also housed in a black bottle that looks like an inkwell.

I thought it would be easy to describe Cannabis. I am struggling with this task at 11pm. I would say that the cannabis note can be very pungent. It smells herbal. Sage-like. Like burnt popcorn.

According to wikipedia, Absinthe is "an anise-flavoured spirit derived from herbs, including the flowers and leaves of the herb Artemisia absinthium, commonly referred to as "grande wormwood", together with green anise and sweet fennel". The drink is commonly referred as "the green fairy". I have always wanted to try absinthe. It looks dangerous and twisted. If it was good enough for Rimbaud...then I should take a sip.
Absinthe smells like black licorice with a touch of ginger.

Gobin Daude Biche dans l'Absinthe was the most exquisite absinthe fragrance. It had this hay note that just slayed me. It also had a cumin note that prevented me from ever caving on a bottle. Cumin and me...are not friends.

Cashmeran is a synthetic material. It smells like wet cement. Musky-like.
It is showcased in Frederic Malle's Dans tes Bras. I love the "difficult to wear" Malle fragrances. Une Fleur de Cassie is one of my favorites.

7 Inspired Comments:

This is such a great review of notes that are almost impossible to put into words, Annie! We do have to revisit Barney's and Bendel to try more of these oddities! I will drag you away from the Malle tubes, I promise!

Hemlock is the poisonous weed plant...but black hemlock is an evergreen tree native to Western US. Canada hemlock is native to Pa. and actually here in Ohio as well. It is my favorite evergreen. I am guessing that this evergreen scent is the note in the Ormonde fragrance. I also love the Gobin Daude Biche dans l'absinthe.

I wondered if patchouli oil deserved a mention here. It is derived from a plant so it is an organic scent,and different maybe each batch or bottle. Even more so on people. Patchouli can smell sweet and earthy,but also remind you of motor oil or cat urine.There are also cheaper versions of it,maybe mixed with other scents-not always good. Crabtree and Evelyn makes an o.k bottle. I still wear it with my jeans and peasant shirt,takes me back.

Holy Water by Demeter has always been a conversation starter. Strange men would say something like "I have no idea what your wearing but it's bringing back memories." I always ask if they went to Catholic school, church, etc. They always say "That's it!!" It smells like wood oil, insense and floral greens, only a Catholic church smells like that. I went to Catholic school, for me it's a comforting scent.

Extremely late with the comment - but have you ever tried any of the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfume oils? My husband refers to them as my "graveyard scents", they are definitely part of the "olfactory oddity section" in my perfume lineup, and I LOVE them. Also love your reviews.